Hengqin opens new school for Macao students

A new school is set to open on Tuesday for students from the Macao Special Administrative Region in the Guangdong-Macao In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Guangdong province.

The Hengqin School, affiliated with Hou Kong Middle School of Macao, will be the first school on the mainland for students from Macao. Initially, it will have 256 kindergarten and elementary school students.

The student body primarily hails from Macao and includes students from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and other regions.

The school's junior and senior high school sections are planned to be operational by 2026.

Designed to offer an educational and living environment similar to that in Macao, the school has enrolled four teachers from Macao, 14 from the mainland and seven foreign teachers, said Iao Tun-ieong, principal of Hou Kong Middle School.

The school will predominantly use Macao textbooks, with additional materials from the Chinese mainland and international sources, such as those from Singapore. It will offer international baccalaureate programs, emphasizing multilingualism and artistic aspects.